Machine for forming a tray around a group of articles

ABSTRACT

A MACHINE FOR ADVANCING A RECTANGULAR GROUP OF ARTICLES POSITIONED ON A FLAT BLANK, SUCH BLANK HAVING A BOTTOM PANEL, FOLDABLE SIDE WALL PANELS AND FOLDABLE LEADING AND TRAILING END WALL PANELS. THE END WALL PANELS HAVE INWARDLY FOLDABLE CORNER FLAPS. FOLDING MEANS ARE ARRANGED TO TRAVEL WITH THE BLANK FOR FOLDING THE END WALLS UPWARD. OTHER FOLDING MEANS SWING THE CORNER FLAPS INWARD. ADDITIONAL FOLDING MEANS FOLD THE SIDE WALLS UPWARD TO BE ATTACHED TO THE CORNER FLAPS.

MACHINE FOR FORMING A TRAY AROUND A GROUP OF ARTICLES Original Filed May4, 1966 1-971 B. NIGRELLI ETAL 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 B. J. NIGRELLI ET AL3,555,776

Jan. 19,1971

MACHINE FOR FORMING A TRAY AROUND A GROUP OF ARTICLES Original Filed May4, 1966 I 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 19,1971

B. J.- NIGRELLI ET 55,776

MACHINE FOR FORMING A TRAY AROUND A GROUP ARTICLES 4 Sheets-Sheet 3Original Filed May 4; 1966 .Q J Q mm /9& km CW NQ Wm uh MN N Ina; MN 7-l \QM MN m U M IQ m Q Q Th N WW M L ..,.l |l w w" Q @Q .lww m h W T fiJan. 19, 1971 a. J. NIGRELLI ET AL 3,555,776

MACHINE FOR FORMING A TRAY AROUND A GROUP OF ARTICLES Original Filed May4, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 United States Patent 3,555,776 MACHINE FORFORMING A TRAY AROUND A GROUP OF ARTICLES Biagio J. Nigrelli,Northbrook, Wendell E. Standley, Lake Forest, and Andre Sprogis,Chicago, Ill., assignors to Johns-Nigrelli-Johns, Inc., Skokie, 11]., acorporation of Illinois Original application May 4, 1966, Ser. No.547,493, now Patent No. 3,454,149. Divided and this application Mar. 12,1969, Ser. No. 816,870

Int. Cl. B65b 11/08 U.S. Cl. 53196 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Amachine for advancing a rectangular group of articles positioned on aflat blank, such blank having a bottom panel, foldable side wall panelsand foldable leading and trailing end wall panels. The end wall panelshave inwardly foldable corner flaps. Folding means are arranged totravel with the blank for folding the end walls upward. Other foldingmeans swing the corner flaps inward. Additional folding means fold theside walls upward to be attached to the corner flaps.

This application is a division of application Ser. No. 547,493, filedMay 4, 1966, now US. Pat. No. 3,454,149.

The present invention relates to mechanism for forming a flat tray blankabout a group of upstanding articles, such as cans, bottles or packagesof articles. The blanks are cut and prescored and have a centralrectangular panel with opposed side and end walls. One of the pairs ofopposed walls have inwardly foldable corner flaps and the other pair offlaps are arranged to be secured to the corner flaps.

The principal object of the invention is to provide improved mechanismfor advancing the tray with a group of articles thereon, for folding theleading and trailing flaps upwardly and the corner flaps inwardly, andfinally folding the lateral walls upwardly and securing them to thecorner flaps.

Additional and more specific objects and advantages of the inventionwill become apparent as the description proceeds.

In the drawingsFIGS. 1A and 1B are somewhat schematic plan views which,when placed in endwise relation, illustrate the flat blank with thearticle group thereon being advanced past folding means to form the trayabout the article group;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are somewhat schematic, side elevational views, partlyin section, showing the mechanism illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B;

FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are schematic perspective views showing inprogression the treatment of the blank as it is folded around thearticle group; and

FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view, taken along line 7-7 of FIG.2A, showing the folding elements for the trailing wall of the tray assuch elements would appear when advanced a short distance beyond theshowing in FIG. 2A.

The mechanism herein disclosed is particularly well suited for thepackaging of groups of four six-packs of cans or bottles, or groups ofthree eight-packs, but it is also contemplated that the mechanism may beemployed for the packaging of a rectangular group of loose cans orbottles or other types of upright articles.

The groups of articles are advanced along a support slightly above theblank path and the blank is advanced by separate conveyor meanssynchronized with the article group travel so that the articles aremoved off the end of the support and deposited in the desired positionon the moving blank. After the article group is in place on the3,555,776 Patented Jan. 19, 1971 blank the leading and trailing wallpanels are successively folded upward, the corner flaps on such wallsare folded inward, followed by upward folding of the sie Walls andsecuring of such Walls to the infolded corner flaps.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the machine is supported onsuitable vertical base frame members to which are connected upper andlower transvese and longitudinal fame members 2 and 3.

The articles, indicated at 4, 4, to be packaged in trays are suitablyformed into groups, herein indicated as four in a group. The separategroups are advanced by a push rod conveyor, indicated as a whole at 8,along a supporting plate, shown at 9 at the left end of FIG. 2A, to theloading station generally indicated at 10 in FIGS. 1A and 2A.

The individual tray blanks, generally indicated at 11, 11, are carriedsingly by a conveyor, herein indicated generally as a lug chain conveyor15.

The tray blank is preferably formed from a relatively stiff, foldabletype of paperboard, slotted and scored to provide a central bottom panel18 having dimensions commensurate with the article group. End walls 19and 20 are defined from the panel 18 by score lines 21 and 22, and sidewalls 23, 23 are defined from the panel 18 by score lines 24, 24. Cornerflaps 25, 25 are hinged at the ends of end wall panel 19 along scorelines 24a formed as extensions of score line 24, and corner flaps 26, 26are hinged at the ends of end wall 20 along score lines 24b, 24b, alsoformed as extensions of score line 24. The corner flaps are separatedfrom the adjacent side walls by narrow slots. It is to be understoodthat the references to side walls and end walls is for convenience ofdescription and that the corner flaps could be carried by the sidewalls, if desired. However, the hinge connections of the corner flaps totheir attached walls are preferably arranged so that they are parallelto the direction of travel of the blank on the principal blank conveyor.

After each blank receives its article group it is advanced past a sideflap folding station 28 at which the side flaps are swung downwardthrough a small angle.

As the blank and article assembly advances the leading and trailingwalls are swung upward at folding station 29 at which the trailing wallcorner flaps 25, 25 are folded forwardly.

During farther advance of the assembly the leading wall corner flaps arefolded rearwadly and adhesive is applied to the side wall at station 30.At station 31, as the assembly advances, the side walls are swungupwardly against the mfolded corner flaps and pressure is applied on theoutside surfaces of the side walls to complete the sealing by adhesive.The operation is then complete and the finlshed package is conveyed tothe desired point by takeaway conveyor 32.

The articles are spaced by grouping mechanism and advanced into thecontrol of push rod conveyor 8 comprising a plurality of spaced pushrods supported at their ends on sprocket chains 36, 36. See FIGS. 1A and2A. Each push rod propels an article group off the end of the plate 9 tothe loading point where the group is transferred onto a moving blank.

Suitably supported on transverse frame sections are flat rails 43a, 43a,and 43b, 43b which extend longitudinally of the machine and on which theblanks are advanced beyond the loading station. The blank conveyorcomprises spaced chains 44, 44 on which are fixed longitudinally spacedpush lugs 45, 45. The upper flights of chains 44, 44 may be supported onsuitable longitudinal rails, not shown. The lugs 45 project above theupper surfaces of the blank supporting rails to propel the blanks.

The chains 44, 44 pass around suitable tail sprockets, not shown,located at the receiving end of the machine, and pass around headsprockets 49, 49' fixed on a shaft 3 50 (see FIGS. 1A and 2A) located ata short distance beyond the end of the loading station.

After a blank has been delivered onto the supporting rails the lugs 45,45 will propel the blanks past the loading station and until the blanksare advanced into the control of the blank folding fingers to bedescribed presently.

The sprocket chains 36 of the push rod conveyor 8 pass around headsprockets, one of which is indicated at 68, mounted on a shaft 69located beyond the point where the article .group is loaded onto theblank. See FIG. 2A. As the loaded blank advances it is propelled by thelugs 45 and the article group is propelled at the same speed by a pushrod 35.

Means are provided to depress or slightly fold down the side wall panels23 as the blank advances as indicated in FIG. 7 to clear the edges ofthe panels 23 from interference with the lower edges of corner flaps 25when they have been folded up and are to be swung inward or forward.Farther advance of the blank will bring it into operative relation witha pair of rotary folders 70, 70 fixed respectively on stub shafts 71, 71suitably journalled on the longitudinal frame members 3, 3. Each shafthas a sprocket 72 fixed thereon driven by a sprocket chain 73 whichpasses around a sprocket 74 fixed on the ends of the shaft 69 throughwhich the push rod conveyor 8 is driven. The folders 70, 70 are thustimed to engage and depress the side wall panels as the blank advances.See FIGS. 2A and 3. The side wall panels are swung down sufficiently tocause them to remain at least at a slight downward angle, enough toclear the space through which the corner flaps will swing.

Continued advance of the loaded blank will bring the assembly to the endwall folding section in which the folding mechanism assumes control ofthe travel of the assembly, and propulsion of the blank and articlegroup by conveyor 8 and lug chain conveyor 15 is discontinued.

Closely spaced chains 77, 77 are arranged longitudinally of the machinebelow the blank path and carry in spaced relation upon selected links aplurality of sets of leading and trailing, wall-folding elements whichmay be termed folding fingers. The trailing folding fingers 78, 78, asherein shown, have upper free end portions 79 which engage the trailingtray walls. The other ends of the fingers have apertured bosses 80, 80formed thereon within which are received the end portions of extendedchain-link pins 81 upon which the fingers are pivotally carried by thesprocket chains 77, and extended portions on which the upon which thereare mounted cam follower rollers 82 by means of which the fingers maybeswung.

The leading wall-folding fingers, indicated at 83, 83, are formedreversely to the fingers 78 and have wall engaging upper ends 84, alsopivotal connections with the sprocket chains 77, and extended portionson which the cam follower rollers 85 are mounted. The cam followers 82and 85 are received in grooves or cam tracks 86 formed in plates 87, 87at each side of the chains 77. See FIG. 2A.

As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the sprocket chains 77 pass around tailsprockets 89 and head sprockets 90, mounted respectively on tail shaft91 and head shaft 92 which are journalled in suitable bearings, notshown. The projecting link pins on which the folding fingers are pivotedare slidably received within chain guide slots formed in the plates 93,93 arranged on each side of the sprocket chains 77. See FIG. 7.

The sprocket chains 77 are driven in timed relation to the travel of theblank conveyor chains 44 and the article group conveyor chains 36. Theleading and trailing folding fingers carried by the chains 77 travelaround the sprockets 89 and continue along a horizontal line for a shortdistance in which they are held by the cam followers in position belowsuch path. When the cam followers 85 reach the upward sloping portion ofeach of the cam tracks 86, as shown in FIG. 2A, the leading folding 4fingers 83 will be caused to swing counter-clockwise and will engage andswing the leading tray wall 20* to upright position. Each upwardly camtrack section merges into a straight, horizontal section by which bothfolding fingers 83 are held in upright position until near the dischargeend of the machine, as shown in FIG. 2B.

The trailing folding fingers 78, after passing around the sprockets 89,will begin to be swung clockwise beneath the trailing tray wall 19 whenthe cam follower 82 moves up the inclined portion of the cam track. 'Itis to be noted that, as the article and blank assembly advances, thepush rod 35 will begin to move upward around the sprockets 68 and,before the trailing fingers 78 have swung the trailing tray wall toupright position, the push rod 35 will pass completely out of contactwith the article group and out of the path of the rising end wall 19.

After the leading tray wall reaches its vertical position the propellingaction of the push rod 35 tends to urge the lower leading corner of thearticle group firmly into the angle formed by the wall 20 and bottompanel 18.

It is also to be noted that as soon as the trailing blank wall 19 hasbeen raised by the trailing folding fingers 78, the edge of the wall 19is removed from contact with push lugs 45, and the fingers 78 willassume the function of propelling the blank and article assembly.

Suitable pads 94 may be provided on the folding fingers and thethickness of these pads may be varied to adjust the mechanism to handlethe blanks and article groups of varying sizes.

After both the leading and trailing walls have been swung to raisedposition the corner flaps on these walls may be folded inward along thesides of the article group. In order to fold the flaps on the trailingwall there are provided rotary folders 96. See FIGS. 2A and 5. Thefolders may be generally hook shaped with a projecting end 97. They arefixed on shaft 98 journalled on upstanding members 99 on the machineframe. The shaft 98 has a sprocket wheel 100 fixed at one end which isdriven by a sprocket chain 101 passing around a sprocket 102 on a shaft69 which also drives the members 70 for folding the side wall panelsdownward.

The folders 96, as they rotate, will move in behind the corner flaps 25,2S, folding them forwardly as the assembly advances. The leading cornerflaps 26, 26 at approximately the same time are folded rearwardly byfixed plow members 103, 103 mounted on the frame. The folders 96, asthey rotate, will retain the trailing corner flaps in folded positionuntil they have advanced sufficiently to come within the control of theplow members 103.

After both sets of corner flaps have been folded into place suitableadhesive applicators 105, 105, which may be of conventional form areemployed to apply several lines of adhesive, indicated at 106 (FIG. 1B),upon the outwardly extending side wall panels 23, 23. The adhesive ispreferably applied only to the limited areas which will contact thecorner flaps as the corner flaps are generally not of sufiicient lengthto overlap the side walls entirely.

The corner flaps will continue to be held in folded position by extendedportions 107, 107 of the plows 103 after adhesive has been applied tothe side walls. After additional advance of the assembly, the side wallsare swung upward by plow members 108. See FIGS. 1B, 2B and 6. Theextensions 107 of the plows 103 terminate somewhat beyond the receivingends of the plows 108 so that the assembly will pass beyond theextensions 107 just before the side walls move up to their finalpositions against the infolded corner flaps.

Beyond the downstream ends of the plows 108, 10 8 there are providedsuitable spring-loaded rolls 109, 109 arranged to bear forcibly upon theouter faces of the upfolded side walls, pressing them firmly against theflaps for a good adhesive bond.

The adhesive employed may be of the hot melt type which sets rapidly. Ifslower setting adhesive is to be used the spring-loaded rolls may bereplaced by a suitable pair of endless pressure devices of conventionalform that will bear against the side walls of the tray for a longerlength of travel.

As best shown in FIG. 2B, the leading folding fingers 83 are swung downout of contact with the leading tray wall as the side walls are' passingthe spring-loaded rolls 109. For this purpose the cam tracks are formedwith downwardly inclined sections 86b which lead into sections 860concentric with the sprocket shaft 92.

The trailing folding fingers remain in propelling contact with thetrailing wall of the tray until the tray has moved past the roll 109.Before the completed tray comes to a stop on the supporting rails itwill push the preceding tray, as shown in FIG. 2B, onto the take-awayconveyor 32.

The trailing fingers also are swung down when their cam followers reachthe downwardly inclined cam track section 8612. After passing around thesprockets 90 the folding fingers travel back to the tail sprockets 89and into return position to perform repeated folding operations.

Any convenient form of driving and transmission means may be employedfor driving the various parts of the machine. As herein shown, a motor111 is employed to drive shaft 112 and line shaft 65. A sprocket on theshaft 112 drives chain 113 passing around a sprocket 114 fixed on shaft92 which drives the chains carrying the folding fingers. Anothersprocket on shaft 112 drives chain 115 passing around sprocket 116 onshaft 50 to drive the chains 44 carrying the blank push lugs 45.

A spur gear on shaft 50, indicated at 117, meshes with a spur gear 118on stub shaft 119. This shaft has a sprocket 120 keyed thereon aroundwhich passes a chain 121, passing in turn about a sprocket 122 on shaft69 which drives the push rod conveyor chains 36, together with the sidewall folders 70 and the corner flap folders 96.

It is to be understood that references to an article group are intendedto refer to a single article as well as to a plurality of articles.

For convenience of description various machine parts have been referredto as being disposed vertically, horizontally or inclined. It isintended that these terms not be considered as limiting, as theessential consideration is the positioning of the parts in relation toeach other.

While the present description sets forth a preferred embodiment of theinvention, numerous changes may be made in the mechanism disclosedwithout departing from the spirit of the invention, and it is thereforedesired that the present embodiment be considered in all respects asillustrative and not restrictive, reference being had to the appendedclaims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope ofthe invention.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for forming a tray blank around a rectangular group ofarticles, said blank being of the type having a central rectangularpanel, side wall and end wall panels, and corner flaps at the ends ofthe end wall panels, said apparatus comprising, in combination, anelongated support comprising laterally spaced elements on which a blankmay be advanced, first conveyor means lfOl' propelling a blank alongsaid support with the end wall panels in leading and trailing positions,second conveyor means for delivering an article group onto the uppersurface of the central panel of said blank and propelling said articlegroup forward in timed relation with the forward movement of said blank,said first and second conveyors operating in unison with one another topropel said blank and said article group conjointly along said support,and third conveyor means for folding upwardly the leading and trailingwall panels of said blank as the assembly of the blank and article groupadvance and for taking over the function of conveying said assemblyindependently of said first and second conveyor means as said first andsecond conveyor means become inoperative, said third conveyor meanscomprising an endless conveyor disposed beneath said support and havingleading and trailing folding fingers which move upwardly within thespaces of said support to engage and fold upwardly the respectingleading and trailing end wall panels, said third conveyor means beingdriven in timed relation to said first and second conveyor means.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said folding fingers arepivotally carried on said endless conveyor for pivotal movement betweenlowered inoperative posi tions wherein said fingers are disposed beneaththe path of said blank and raised operative positions wherein saidfingers move upwardly within the spaces of said support to fold said endpanels upwardly and convey said assembly, each of said folding fingershaving a cam follower thereon, and a cam track disposed beneath saidsupport in cooperative relation with said cam followers for controllingthe pivotal movement of said folding fingers.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein said cam track has a firstsection for retaining the folding fingers in inoperative positionbeneath the blank path, a second angular section for first swinging theleading folding finger upwardly into operative raised position andsubsequently swinging the trailing folding finger into operative raisedposition, and a third section for maintaining the folding fingers inoperation position to hold the end wall panels upright while saidtrailing folding finger serves to propel said assembly along saidsupport.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein said second conveyor means isarranged so that it remains operative to propel said article groupforwardly after said leading folding finger has been raised to operativeposition but disengages from said article group before said trailingfolding finger has been pivoted to its fully raised position.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 including means for swinging saidcorner flaps inwardly toward positions along the lateral surfaces ofsaid article group, and means timed with the travel of said firstconveyor means and acting in advance of the inward folding of the cornerflaps for depressing said side wall panels downwardly an amountsufficient to clear the edges of said side panels from the paths of saidcorner flaps as the latter are swung inwardly.

'6. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 including folding mechanism forfolding at least one of the outwardly projecting corner flaps on thetrailing end wall panel, said folding mechanism comprising a rotarymember mounted on a horizontal axis for rotation in a vertical plane,and means for rotating said rotary member in timed relation to theoperation of said first conveyor trailing side and move the sameforwardly to a position along the side of the article group as saidassembly advances along said support.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,932,929 4/ 1960 Fahrenbach etal. 53-209X 3,108,414 10/ 1963 Schleichter et a1. 53-48 THERON E.CONDON, Primary Examiner N. ABRAMS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 53207, 209

